Despite the technological advances realized in recent years, many traditional business activities still have a prominent place in today's workplaces. One such activity is the meeting or conference. Often, such a collaborative effort will involve a presentation of material by one participant to a number of other participants. Traditional means for presenting information include projection on a screen, display on a monitor or other optically active device, or presentation in hard copy form, such as on a white board, chalkboard or easel. While each of these methods has benefits and drawbacks in terms of cost, complexity, and effectiveness, projection and display are typically best suited for rapidly changing data such as may be presented via slides or video. Additionally, projection and display are also ideal for sharing of information from the screen of a computer or other computing device, such as during a Microsoft brand PowerPoint slide presentation.
Unfortunately for projection technology users and participants, traditional mechanisms for projection and display of information from a computing device, while highly effective once initiated, have often been complex to establish, requiring the connection of cords, such as VGA cables, and the setting of various parameters. This complexity can lead to complications before and during a presentation, and often lead to delay in commencing a presentation. Additionally, such mechanisms do not allow simple and rapid transfer of control of the presentation from one speaker to another. Thus, for example, if a first speaker is using a PC to present a POWER POINT slide show and wishes to cede the floor to a second speaker, the second speaker typically must physically leave their chair and walk to a location next to the first speaker's PC, during which time there will be discontinuity, delay, and distraction for the other participants.
Another problem relates to the security of the information presented during such a meeting. Specifically, once an attendee is physically in the room, or is able to see into the room in which a presentation is give, there is no way to restrict that person's ability to view the presented information. While physical methods can be employed to prevent initial access to the physical location of a presentation, such methods do not account for security when multiple presentations are given in the same location as discussed above. That is, once one is in a presentation location, one is able to observe all presentations given in that location.
To address this concern, many seminar locations utilize a number of different, smaller presentation locations or rooms. In this way, individuals admitted to each presentation can be more carefully screened. However, while this addresses security concerns of the presenters, it often makes attendance at these presentations difficult for the attendees. These attendees now must physically move from location to location to view the desired presentations, having to pack and unpack their materials at each site. Further, attendees with physical handicaps may miss the beginning of a presentation or have to leave a presentation early in order to make the physical location move. Additional material may be missed as the attendees may enter the wrong room or be unable to find the location of a particular presentation.
There exists, therefore, a need in the art for a system and method of one to many (1:M) information projection that addresses both presenter and attendee requirements and desires, that provides security for presentations, and that allows control of the information shared during the presentation.